Forget about new Taylor — has anyone been paying attention to new Selena? For a quick recap, in the past year Sel opened up about her lupus diagnosis, received a successful kidney transplant from a friend, broke up with boyfriend The Weeknd and recently is rekindling things with an old flame, none other than Justin Bieber. Phew! Gomez also sat as an executive producer on the Netflix series, “13 Reasons Why” (2017), and has also begun a new chapter in her music career. I’m beginning to feel like a broken record with all these pop artists who have “reinvented” themselves, but it looks like Selena is following suit.
Featuring her first single since her last album, Gomez released her “Bad Liar” (2017) music video, in which Selena herself portrays all of the main roles, including her mother, her father, her gym teacher and, of course, protagonist Selena. Therefore, yes, there are scenes where Dad Selena flirts with Gym Teacher Selena, who happens to be the infatuation of Teen Selena. While I’m not sure if Selena is genuinely attracted to women or not, something about this inclusion of a girl crush feels like she is trying to win some brownie points for progressiveness.
Next, Selena brought us “Fetish” (2017), or as I saw it, Selena felt she needed to remind us she was dating The Weeknd, and she did so by thrashing around inside a grocery freezer and mashing a stick of lipstick into her teeth. Actually, she puts a lot of weird stuff in her mouth: broken glass, a bar of soap, an eyelash curler, and even ties her tongue with a string. If you remember her song “Good for You” (2015) with A$AP Rocky, this feels like she took that song fifty shades darker and subbed in Gucci Mane.
Which brings us to her latest song, “Wolves” feat. Marshmello (2017). Sadly, this track feels very Disney to me, with a real chant of a chorus and severely simplistic composition. The intro guitar riff that transitions into club synths is precisely what she and Kygo did in the summer anthem “It Ain’t Me” (2017). The only difference is that Selena sings about running with wolves in one, and screeches like a wolf in the other. Visually, Selena and her co-artist take an interesting approach to the music videos (there are two), with one entirely shot as an iPhone FaceTime call. Is this what breaking the fourth wall looks like in 2017? Well, I'll tell you that the vertical phone angle on the landscape YouTube screen was not my favorite.
Selena’s last album, “Revival” (2015), was her first venture away from the high-energy dance pop of her early years, and she took a more mellow, sultry approach. So far, her new material pushes boundaries of sexuality, and certainly of creativity. I’ll leave you with this: if you ever feel like you don't give yourself enough credit, remember that Selena has proclaimed her own 59-track Spotify playlist called “Selena Gomez - The Hits.” Self-love is important; remember that when you're considering a second slice of pumpkin pie.
